Plot Bunny Asylum of Potential Insanity
by ShadowVulpix
Summary: It's a plot bunny ranch. Anything that's unlikely to go anywhere, goes here. It's probably gonna be Pokemon and Worm, but there's always room for others. Hence the category tag. M for safety, because I don't know what's gonna happen in here. Aside from regret, most likely. Also most likely to be crack or crack-ish stuff.
1. Intro, Warning

Hi, and welcome to my storage unit. it's unlikely that anything placed into here it going to grow beyond a one shot. Maybe a two shot, at best. Still, if they do, that's great, and if anyone ends up adopting any of them, that's also great.

Oh, and beware of crack. That's... probably gonna be the reason things end up here, rather than being a story. Too much crack, or too much dark. So there is your warning, have fun.


	2. Strange way of dealing with Endbringers

**An idea created in the Taylor Varga Discord, as many things I think of are. It happened kinda by accident, a conversation about one idea got mixed up with a conversation about competitive battle teams in another, SABER and FEAR strategies came up, and then there was... _this_.**

**Very, _very_ crack.**

**Worm/Pokemon.**

* * *

"Everyone ready to go?"

"Yup yup!"

"Ready."

"All good to go!"

"And we all know what we're doing?"

"It'll be fine, T. We all know what we're doing, we're all ready for action, and we'll blow these things up really quickly."

"Right, sure." The biggest of the group took a deep breath, then lifted up the smallest up with a slight grumble of effort. "Open it up, then, we'll go handle this."

"I'll be listening!" The almost-smallest grinned impishly, then reached up and detached a golden ring from its horn, throwing it into the air before them. "Alléhooparing!" The actual littlest giggled slightly, and the three of them passed through the portal.

* * *

"What the-!" Someone's startled shout from nearby caught David's attention, making him spin around from the Simurgh, backing away in case it was some other attack-

Only to stare at the golden ring with a purple portal in it, from which two… _creatures_... had stepped through.

The Simurgh's scream cut off, and he glanced at it to see that the Endbringer was staring at them as well, slowly backing away.

"Not so fast!" One of the creatures, a weird white thing with massive arms in a green goopy substance, shouted. "Try a **Trick Room!**" A blue energy rippled from the creature, and everything suddenly _shifted_, going slow.

Except for the giant, who merely moved slightly, and the green thing, which spun in a circle and… giggled?

"Hah, not so fast. No going fast for the fast ones now, it's slowtime!" The giant thing chuckled, then lifted a white glowing arm.

"Quiet right. **Brick Break!** It snapped, bringing its arm down heavily. For a moment, David was confused, wondering what breaking the floor was doing to help, and was caught off guard by the loud shout of pain.

"Owie! That hurt…" The voice of a little kid complained, as a small patch of white metal shuffled about on the ground- clearly a third creature that he'd missed. "Really, really bad, Uncle T."

"Sorry, little buddy. Still, you know what's next, right?" The little metal thing perked up- well, it seemed to. It was hard to tell at a distance- and nodded.

"Oh! Right, right! I know!" It tottered unsteadily over to the green thing. "Let's go, Aunt Re!" The green thing, this… _Re_, laughed again, picking it up in one hand.

"Let's go indeed, little Aron." The arm was drawn back, then snapped forwards with a loud thump. "**Fling!**"

"**Endeavour!**" David merely stared at the quickly approaching metal creature, which was now glowing an even brighter white, as it shot past him, leaving a trail behind it, and impacted something with a heavy thud and a loud cracking sound.

Turning again, it was to the completely insane sight of the Simurgh, mostly cracked into pieces, both visibly falling apart and visibly _afraid_, and the little metal creature falling slightly towards the ground before being caught in a pink outline.

And then there was sand.

When the abrupt sandstorm had finished, along with the coughing fits and the desperate attempts to get sand out of the eyes while wearing a mask, the Simurgh was nowhere to be seen.

"Awesome, that worked." '_Re'_ cheered, as the blue faded and things sped back up again. "Gotta be honest, T, wasn't sure it would."

"I'm _so_ glad you have such confidence in us." '_T'_ replied dryly, as '_Aron'_ landed in its arms and lost the pink outline. "Now come on, we need to get Aron here healed, Hoopa can't hold the portal open forever, and if I'm remembering things correctly there's an all-you-can-eat buffet on tonight happening at the ranch. Something to do with a cooking competition, I think, but the real important part is the free food."

"Food is good." The green creature nodded, as the giant one walked back to the portal, a long tail now becoming visible and sweeping along the ground. "Hopefully there's chili, no-one seems to do that around here."

"You could probably request it, if we get back fast enough."

"Good plan now move." Re vanished, leaving the titan to shrug and look over its shoulder at them all.

"Have fun dealing with the rest of this. We'll see you in three months." With that, the thing walked away, holding the _goddamn tiny creature that just killed a fucking Endbringer_ in its arms like a child, the ring vanishing the second it was gone.

For a while, things were silent.

"_What in the __**fuck**__ was that."_

* * *

Just under three months later, they were back.

Leviathan met the same fate as the Simurgh.

A blue effect took over the battle, slowing everything down but those three creatures. The little one was hit hard once again, then sent flying at the hydrokinetic Endbringer, almost shattering it. There was sand. And then the Endbringer was gone, followed shortly by the creatures.

At least the city hadn't been wrecked. Barely even touched, actually, aside from a few holes where the two creatures had stepped.

Also, that tiny one was somehow heavy enough to create holes in the stone.

Across the world, people were giving up and reaching for the alcohol.

* * *

Behemoth didn't go so smoothly.

The blue effect had taken over, but all it had done was make Behemoth move _faster_, which was followed by muffled cursing from the green thing and some yelling about something called Regigigas and an awful lot of regrets. Re- actually something called _Reuniclus,_ according to the events of the Leviathan slaughter- cancelled the blue effect a minute later, during which T- _Tyranitar_, whatever that was- managed to fight against Behemoth using an awful lot of lasers, strange glowing effects, and sand.

The sand hadn't worked either, causing grumbling about rocks and ground for some reason, but eventually Aron had been sent flying in a flash of white to blow the thing up.

It was nice of the Reuniclus thing to shield everyone from the enormous explosion that followed, too.

* * *

"Scion's gone." Rebecca said one day, dropping into a chair in an incredibly undignified fashion.

The rest of the group in the Cauldron headquarters stared at her. "Pardon?" The Doctor asked.

"Scion's gone." She repeated. "It's all over the place at the moment. No-one knows what happened, just that he suddenly looked startled, then teleported away. No-one's seen him since, and that was nearly five hours ago."

"That's… not normal." David mentioned slowly.

"Nope. Normally someone finds him whenever he suddenly vanishes within an hour. He's not shown up _anywhere_. I even called Dragon and asked her if she could look around with her satellites. She can't find him either. He's seriously gone."

There was a long pause.

"What do we do now?"

"Wait a while, just to confirm that he's definitely gone." The Doctor said firmly. "From there?" She shrugged. "I have no idea."

Another pause.

"I wonder what happened?" Rebecca mused.

"I don't know." David sighed, getting up and heading for the whiskey bottle on the other side of the room, pouring a glass. "But somehow, I get the feeling that it was something to do with those _fucking_ creatures."

* * *

_**Thank you for your assistance.**_

"Not really a problem." Tyranitar shrugged, looking completely uncaring about the Pokemon standing next to him. "It was something that needed dealing with. Sure, not on this world, but a problem nonetheless. It's what we do."

_**I suppose.**_ Arceus nodded, looking down at the city below the mountain. _**Though I do not suppose you ever believed you would be doing something like this when you began what you do.**_

"Not really." Tyranitar shrugged again. "Still, fate takes strange turns. What can you do?"

_**Indeed.**_ The god-being and the armour Pokemon stood side by side in silence for a while. _**Now, I've heard some rather interesting things from Mew about an eatery in this town…?**_ Tyranitar chuckled.

"Heh. Of course she'd say something." Stretching slightly and letting the armour pieces chink against each other, he nodded. "You'll want to put on some kinda disguise, just because I think you'd cause a bit of a stir, but there shouldn't be a problem with getting food." Spotting a disturbance on the edge of town, he sighed. "Assuming they haven't set off another cook-off in the time it takes to get down there, of course."

_**These… 'cook-offs'. They normally result in a buffet?**_

"Usually, but it can be a bit difficult to get an order in during those." A flicker of gold made him look back, glaring slightly at the almost-common Rapidash standing there.

It'd be more common if it didn't have golden flames.

"Really?"

_**I am rather interested in partaking in one of these buffets.**_

Tyranitar laughed. "Fair enough. Also, watch the voice, it's a bit of a give away."

_My life is incredibly weird._ The Tyranitar thought, as he headed down the mountain with the Pokemon god in disguise behind him. _But it's rather worth it._

* * *

**Like I said. Crack.**

**I slightly regret writing this, but I know it would've chased around in my head if I didn't. So here, you can all put up with it as well.**

**The Tyranitar has Unnerve as an ability, and it's that plus the Dark type that makes Simurgh hesitate. Reuniclus used Trick Room, which makes the slow Pokemon move first, Brick Break is 4X super effective on Aron, who was then used by Reuniclus as a thing for Fling to get close to the Simurgh. Then there was Endeavour, and then Sandstorm to finish is. Aron survived because of Sturdy. This didn't go so well on Behemoth, because he's slower than them, and also basically counts as a Rock/Ground type.**

**You can make up your own opinions on what sort of canon this is taking place in, because I have no clue.**


	3. A Rescue Scene

**I was talking about some stuff for SEW in a Twitch chat, and then someone suggested something that might be funny, and then this wouldn't stop hammering the inside of my brain, so I wrote it. Not much more to it than that.**

* * *

Taylor pressed heavily against the wall, trying to make herself as invisible as possible, hands clamped over her mouth to try and muffle the sounds of her breathing.

Near the entrance of the alley came a crash, as well as some muffled, slurred swearing, and she flinched, pressing further into the wall and trying to silently shuffle away.

"…fucking _shit_!" The voice snapped. "Where the balls did she go, the little bitch?"

"I dunno, man." Another voice, sounding a little less out of it than the first- in the same way that a cat was a little like a dog, not much at all- replied. "Maybe we should just leave it?"

"Fuck no!" Angry Voice One growled. "I need money, damnit!"

"Not gonna get it robbing a random girl, though." Slightly Less Angry Voice Two tried to reason. "Besides, kid didn't look posh. Probably piss-all cash on'er in the first place. No point botherin', just leave it. Find someone else."

"I need that money, you fuck!"

_Jeez, what an idiot._ Taylor thought hysterically, eyes wide. The slightly less angry- and probably slightly less drugged too- guy had been right; she didn't have much cash on her, just a few dollars of pocket change. She'd quickly stopped taking money to school when the Trio had started stealing it, not having anywhere _near_ enough normally to risk it. Still, the amount of stubbornness to not give up when he lost his target was almost impressive, though it would've been a little more so if it wasn't aimed at her or was aimed at something actually productive.

Something else crashed loudly, probably the result of Voice One kicking something again if the swears were anything to go by, and she winced again. Slowly, Taylor began backing down the alley, away from the pair, barely holding in a squeak when she knocked against a bin.

It tumbled to the ground behind her, whatever refuse was in it spilling out behind her, and she tripped over it, landing heavily.

"_There_ you are, you bitch." Voice One crowed, as the two men stumbled towards her. The owner of Voice One gripped her around the throat, lifting her slightly into the air- either her height, his lack of strength, or the drugs were making it difficult for him- while Voice Two was now holding a knife, which he was holding near her stomach. "Now, you stupid cunt, hand over your money."

"Phone, too." Voice Two added helpfully.

Taylor struggled, trying to get the hands away from her neck- he was squeezing hard enough that it was difficult to breathe- but the cold metal of the knife pressing against her skin made her freeze. "Quit moving, girly. Give us your stuff, and you'll get out of this alright. Don't and, well…"

She stayed perfectly still, fighting against the urge to flail with panic while trying to figure out how to get her money out. It wasn't much, but if she was lucky she might manage to get away if they thought she'd given up everything and was completely useless to them. She had to think quickly, though, the world was going dark around the edges-

"I think you ought to put the lady down, gentlemen."

The sudden intrusion of a third voice from the entrance to the alley made them all jump, Voice One dropping Taylor to the ground. She immediately began gasping for air, her vision coming back in, and the pain from falling on her backside- and ramming her back against the metal bin- falling to the wayside in the face of getting oxygen into her lungs again.

"Thank you." Voice Three said coolly. "Now, I don't suppose you'd be willing to start heading out quietly, and maybe turn yourselves in with the police? I think I'd be rather busy helping the young lady out to escort you, you see."

"Fuck you!" Voice One screamed, apparently back to being Angry Voice One again. Voice Two didn't say anything, but from the stutter footsteps instead charged the person with their knife.

Voice Three sighed. "Fool. Would you mind dealing with this? Stuns, preferably."

"Sure, no problem!" A giggly female voice joined the mix, also from the entrance to the alleyway. "One stun blast, coming right up!" There was the crackle of electricity, a bright flash that made Taylor flinch away as she massaged her neck, and the two idiots who'd attacked her fell over. "See? Told ya I could do it!"

"Yes, I saw." Voice Three sighed again, then footsteps came over to her. "Hey, are you alright."

"Be-" Taylor started hoarsely, then coughed. "Been… be-tter." She managed to wheeze, after a moment.

"Damn." Her rescuer cursed lowly. "Don't suppose either of you can heal?"

"Prooobbaaabbblllyyy?" The female hummed out. "I mean, it's not in my normal skillset, but I kinda know what to do. I can try, if the girl's ok with it." Inhaling again to try and speak, Taylor was cut off by another coughing fit, so she nodded instead once she had a moment to try. "Okey-dokie! Just hold still…"

With her eyes closed from the coughing, the feeling of furry paws resting gently on her throat made her stiffen, almost inhaling sharply in surprise before she managed to stop herself. Warmth spread over her throat for a few seconds, and by the time the female had moved away Taylor found herself feeling fine.

"Thank you." She tested, still somewhat quieter than normal.

"No problem!" Noticing for the first time the fluttering of wings, Taylor opened her eyes and looked up at her rescuers, who were giving her space a little ways away.

Her eyes widened.

The first of the two, apparently the one who had just healed her, was a strange creature that looked like a mix between a bat, a fox, and a human. She had a long body with huge feet, a long tail brushing around gently behind her in the air, while her arms where folded across her chest. Her head was rounded, with two tufts of fur sticking out from either side, and bat-like ears at the top. Two wings, also designed like a bat's, kept her in the air, and kindly green eyes glittered down at her from her floating position nearly eight feet in the air.

The other was… stranger, in a way. Tall and more humanoid, about six feet tall, wearing a long blue trench coat. A large hat of the same colour was angled to cover his face, and in his right hand he had a sword in a backwards grip. If that was all, he might not look out of place at some kind of performance- not that Taylor could think of one right now.

The blue fur, long tail, and ears sticking out of the top of the hat put paid to that, though. All of it put her rescuers rather firmly in the _'Cape'_ territory, something that, ten minutes ago, Taylor wouldn't have bet on.

The healing power also helped.

"Is something wrong?" Trench-coat-guy asked, sounding concerned. Taylor shook her head, trying to get her voice to work-

"She's probably confused." Bat-fox-thing put in, tilting her head slightly. "I mean, from what I've seen so far, there's not really many like us around here. It can be hard to recover from seeing something new and weird, y'know."

"I know." Trench-coat-guy audibly rolled his eyes at her. "You're right, of course-"

"When _aren't_ I?"

"-So I'm sorry. I'm Dust, this is Ahrah, and the nimbat here is Fidget." He introduced.

Taylor frowned. "Nimbat?"

"That's me!" The fox-bat, Fidget, grinned. She fluttered forward, holding out a paw. "Nice to meet you!"

"…Hi." She managed, after a pause, gently shaking her paw. "And… Ahrah?"

"That is I." Taylor jumped slightly as the sword in Dust's hand began glowing, the Cape bringing it around in a forward grip to include it. The sword had a weird shape, the lower edge having almost an axe-shape to it, the top dipping downwards, and the back having a pattern of three spike-things on. The outer edge of the blade was silver, while the centre was a dark blue, with a little gold pattern by the hilt and some small shapes near the top of the blade, which were glowing with a lighter blue.

It looked very strange, she decided, then winced as the pain in her back from falling and being dropped made an appearance.

"Apologies. Are you alright? Perhaps you should let Fidget heal you, if you are hurt."

"You have a talking sword?" Taylor asked, as Fidget floated around to her back. She winced again as the… _'nimbat'_ poked her back, then relaxed as the warm feeling spread over her back.

"I do." Dust sounded amused.

"Talking sword. Alright, my night's gotten weird." She muttered, shaking her head. Fidget snorted.

"Ahrah's cool. A bit stuffy, but cool." The warmth vanished, and she fluttered back around to the front. "Is that ok?"

"Yeah." Taylor nodded, reaching back and poking herself, before carefully standing. There was a slight ache in her back, but it felt more like she'd just bumped something, not taken a fall that would bruise the next day. "Thank you. So much." She reached down for her backpack- which had slipped off at some point in the confusion, she realised- and checked over it for damage.

"Not a problem, miss." Dust replied, still sounding amused.

"You will be alright getting to your destination by yourself?" _'Ahrah'_ checked.

"I should be, as long as I don't run into any more muggers."

"Then you should go. Dust and Fidget can take care of these two."

Taylor didn't realise it was possible for a sword to sound disdainful. Then again, swords didn't normally talk, either. She just nodded again.

"Thank you again." Taylor started towards the entrance of the alley, Dust stepping to the side to let her out.

"Hey, what's your name, anyway?" She paused mid-step at Fidget's call.

"Taylor." She returned, glancing over her shoulder at the Cape. "Taylor Hebert."

"Nice to meet you! Despite the circumstances." Fidget glared down at the nearest of the Merchants, who was still taking a nap on the ground. "Rude, disgusting idiots." Taylor giggled, then continued on her way, heading back onto the main street and towards her original destination, her home.

* * *

**So, this one is _Worm_, crossed with _Dust: An Elysian Tail_. _Dust_ is a platformer, metroidvania, hack-and-slash. It's rather neat. Dust is the main character, Fidget is the snarky, forth-wall-breaking sidekick- and she's hilarious- and Ahrah is what I and a few friends have affectionately called Dumble-sword; knows more than it lets on, and is cryptic.**

**I'm not sure where I'd go with this one if I went any further, though I'd love to take it forward sometime if I can figure it out, but I've purposely left a lot of it open ended so I can work with it if I want to. How'd Dust and co get there, who knows? I've not really filled in any background for it, even a date, aside from sometime pre-Locker.**


	4. Super Powered Prosecution

**This is another one that's the fault of a Twitch chat conversation; in fact the same Twitch chat that was responsible for the last post. Spoiler warning for the first Ace Attorney game (up to case 4, which is the one we were on when this was suggested). The original idea had a snark-off between two characters, but I didn't think I could manage to get the depths of the snark/smug required for those two characters to share a room, so you've gotten this instead.**

**And, since I didn't want to tangle with the mess that is the Ace Attorney courtroom system (which is two different ones mashed together as far as I can tell, and I'm not from either of the countries chosen), I skipped over those scenes.**

**I actually _really_ want someone to adopt this, because I'd love to see what someone with the knowledge of that world would be able to do with this. Link me up if you do, folks.**

**Worm/Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.**

* * *

"Alright Maya, what've we got?" Phoenix Wright asked, leaning against the desk in the office.

"We've got a defence request for one Michelle A. White, who's been arrested on suspicion of murdering a man, Layton C. Jacobs."

"I think I saw that on the news earlier." Phoenix hummed, tapping his foot against the floor. "I didn't realise they'd arrested someone though."

"It only happened a little while ago." Maya told him. "You would've still been coming into the office. She's not got a lawyer, so we've been assigned to the case."

"Alright, that sounds good. Do you have the details?" The spirit medium-in-training handed him a thin file, and he smiled. "Thank you, Maya."

"No problem, Nick!" She grinned in return. "Anything else you need?"

"Is there any information on who the prosecution is in this case?"

"I don't have any at the moment." Maya said apologetically. "I can go and take a look, though, and see if I can find anything?"

"That'd be great. I'd like to know who we're up against."

"I'll go down to the precinct, then. Maybe Detective Gumshoe will be willing to give us a bit of information on them."

"Thanks, Maya." Phoenix smiled at her again, and she hurried out of the door with a wave. Phoenix settled down in his seat and started scanning through the file.

_Miss White, twenty six, accused of murdering Mr Jacobs with a gun. There's no prints on the gun, but some fabric left behind on the gun matches gloves that Miss White is known to wear. Additionally, we have a witness; one Mr Morris O. Smiths, who saw Miss White entering the building- a small hotel on the edge of the city called Moon Edge- around a half hour before the murder occurred. People apparently heard a shot, but they had no suspects until this morning._ Phoenix sighed, tapping the desk slowly. _Seems like a tight case… I'll need to go down to the detention centre to find out more._ Picking up a pen, he scribbled a note for Maya in case she got back before he did, he locked the case files in a drawer and stood, heading for the door.

* * *

An hour later, Phoenix pushed open the door again, shrugging his coat off and hanging it on the hook in the hall. _Well, this is a mess. The witness seems airtight, there's about a thousand different things telling that say she was the only one who_ could _have done it, but she's insistent that she didn't do it, and she even seems to have an alibi… admittedly with no-one willing to back it up, but there's an alibi. Hopefully Maya's managed to find something we can do with all this, or this case is gonna sink!_

"Nick!"

"Hey, Maya." He smiled. "Did you get anything?"

"Yup!" She grinned back, bouncing on the balls of her feet and holding a file in her arms. "Detective Gumshoe was pretty helpful. He's happy for you to come down and talk to him, of course, but he gave me some information on the prosecutor we're facing."

"Well then, let's hear it." Phoenix requested, sitting down behind the desk again.

"Apparently she's new to the job, or at least reasonably new. She's taken a few cases, some wins some losses, nothing really unusual or anything. Kind of surprising, actually."

"Well, this case does seem pretty airtight." He told her. "Maybe the Prosecutors office is trying to give one of the new ones a bit more experience."

"Maybe…" Maya mused. "But yeah, nothing really special, I don't think. Not like Edgeworth or von Karma, who've never lost a case."

"Even if she was, we seem to have a good track record of breaking those perfect streaks."

Maya laughed. "Yeah, I guess we have. Anyway, she's been around about three months, and she's never actually taken anything as high profile as a murder case. Mostly she's been involved in little scuffles over things. Almost surprising, given how often a murder case seems to pop up around here."

"They are rather common, but it would explain why we've never run into her before, if she's only taken low profile cases up until this point." Phoenix nodded. "Anything else?"

"Just a name, is all." Maya slumped a little. "Sorry I couldn't find more, Nick."

"No worries, Maya. Just knowing a bit about the person we're up against is better than nothing." He smiled at her. "So, tell me her name, then we can go out and have a look around, see what we can find to help Miss White."

"Sounds like a plan!" The girl grinned, perking up again. "And the prosecutor is a Miss Lisa Wilbourn."

* * *

"Gah, this is ridiculous." Phoenix growled, a few hours later. "No-one seems to be able to tell us anything!"

"Sorry, Nick." Maya sighed. "I guess we're just going to have to hope for the best."

"Isn't that what you usually do?" A familiar voice said from behind them, making both of them spin.

"Edgeworth!" Maya grinned, waving a little. "What're you doing here?"

"I was taking a walk, and heard you complaining." He spared a tiny smile for the young medium, then turned to Phoenix, who was smiling slightly himself.

_Edgeworth sure has changed a lot recently._

"I take it you have a new case?"

"A new case that looks horribly impossible to win, with a mostly unknown prosecutor." Phoenix confirmed, slouching slightly. "It seems impossible."

"But you two are rather good at pulling off the impossible." Another slight smirk came and went. "I haven't heard anything about a case that would catch your interest, though."

"Murder case, the defendant doesn't have a lawyer so we've been asked to handle it."

"Hey, Edgeworth!" Maya suddenly cut in, looking enthusiastic. "You could tell us something about the prosecutor, maybe!"

"And you know who it is… how?"

"I asked!"

"Of course you did." Edgeworth sighed. "Very well. Who is it?"

"A Lisa Wilbourn."

Edgeworth made a choking sound.

"You know her?" Phoenix pressed.

"Oh. I know her." He grimaced, looking to one side. "Decent prosecutor, handles the courtroom well for someone new, probably the most terrifying person you'll ever go up against."

"Really?"

"I include myself and von Karma in that statement."

"_Really?!_"

"Yes." Another smirk came and went. "Miss Wilbourn is new, but terrifying. She recently moved into the city, almost immediately joined up with our Prosecuting Office, and she's been taking low level cases ever since she showed up three months ago. To let herself settle in, apparently." Edgeworth shrugged slightly. "Nice enough person, I suppose, though I haven't had much contact with her since she started."

"I see." Phoenix sighed. "Well, this just makes everything worse, I think."

"We can do it, Nick!" Maya said confidently. Edgeworth nodded.

"It's quite possible. She's new, and hasn't had to handle the pressure of a murder trial before." He fixed Phoenix with a glare. "Of course, if your client _is_ guilty…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Wright grinned. "Thanks for the information, Edgeworth. See you around." Edgeworth huffed, nodded to them both, and walked away.

"Nick!" Maya scolded, once he was far enough away. "That was _rude_!"

"You know Edgeworth, Maya. He doesn't care." He assured her. "Still, that tells us something about what we can expect later. Hopefully we'll be able to use her inexperience against her and win this case."

"Should I get Mia?" Maya asked lowly, looking around warily.

Phoenix thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, don't bother. If we need her, you can try and call for her, but for now let's just see what we can do."

"Alright." Maya nodded.

* * *

_So, that's Lisa Wilbourn._ Phoenix mused, looking at the woman in the other stand. The tall blonde was in her late twenties as far as he could tell, and had a sharp face with hard green eyes. In front of her was a small pile of papers, and she was slowly reviewing the topmost page. _Gotta admit, she doesn't look much like a new prosecutor. She seems to be pretty focused and knowledgeable about what she's doing… then again, I suppose taking some smaller cases helps with building a bit of experience, though it's not exactly the same thing._

"Nick!"

"Yes, Maya?"

"She doesn't look very new, does she?"

"No, she doesn't." Phoenix tapped his foot against the floor. "Then again, she could just be putting on a show for us to try and pretend that she's used to this."

"Yeah, there's no reason for her to know that we know about her." Maya reasoned.

Wilbourn glanced up at them, almost as if she'd heard, and smiled a little. Her eyes seemed to sparkle with suppressed amusement, and Phoenix gave a small smile back.

"Order! Order!" The Judge called out, making all of them stand up straight. Wilbourn carefully put her papers back in order and looked up. "Ahem. The court is now in session for the trial of Miss Michelle White."

"The defence is ready, Your Honour." Phoenix stated.

"The… the prosecution is ready, Your Honour." Wilbourn stumbled.

_Ah, there's the sign of newness. Nervous, either about the situation or her abilities._

The Judge gave her a reassuring look. "Could the prosecution give their statement?"

"Y-yes, Your Honour." Wilbourn stood a little straighter, glancing down at the papers in front of her, and let out a breath. "Mr Layton C. Jacobs, twenty-five, was found dead in his hotel room. According to witness statements on the situation, Miss White was the only person to enter the hotel at all before the murder took place. The victim was shot from a distance of approximately three metres while standing at a table near the window."

The woman's voice was far smoother, almost like the lines were rehearsed.

_So, she's either more comfortable when she has a formula she can follow when speaking, or she's actually rehearsed this beforehand._ Phoenix mused. _Either way, interesting, really._

"Thank you, Miss Wilbourn." The Judge gave her another smile, which she awkwardly returned.

_And she's got the judge eating out of her hand, whichever it is!_

"Miss Wilbourn, the prosecution may call its first witness."

"Of course, Your Honour." She took another obvious deep breath. "The prosecution would like to call Mr Morris O. Smiths to the stand to testify."

_Alright,_ Phoenix mused, as the witness stood behind the stand, _it's time to get serious. Let's see what we can do._

* * *

"This is bad, isn't it, Nick?" Maya asked quietly, as they clambered out of the taxi.

"It is a bit, yeah." Phoenix nodded. The street was pretty much silent, despite it only being six in the afternoon, so it was safe to talk about the case before they got into the office. "That went… ok, certainly, but we don't have enough evidence to counter and prove it wasn't Miss White, despite Mr Smiths' testimony being… rather poor."

Poor was an understatement; the man had gotten easily overwhelmed and kept tripping over his testimony, making it quite easy for Phoenix to pick out inconsistencies. Still, while it was enough to make the witness seem unreliable, it wasn't enough to get the case thrown out of court… even though Miss Wilbourn was wincing the entire time.

"So, what do we do now? Head back to the office and see if I can contact Mia?"

"That might be our best course of action for now. I don't really know how we can handle this otherwise, and getting an outside view might be helpful."

"Ok." Maya frowned a little and trailed after Phoenix, looking deep in thought. Unlocking the door, the two entered the office, only to freeze when something crinkled under his shoe. "What's that?"

"I… don't know." Phoenix frowned, picking it up. Finding that it was a piece of paper led to him unfolding it, curiously reading the gentle cursive script. "It's a note."

"What does it say?"

"It's a message of some sort. A time, a place, and the word '_tomorrow'_ written on it." Phoenix read, confused. "It's some kind of place across town, at eleven? And signed with an 'L'."

"Huh. That's odd." Maya hummed. "Kinda suspicious, too." She perked up. "Hey, maybe it's a witness who saw today's trial and wants to help us out!"

"Perhaps…" Phoenix sighed. "Do you think we should go check it out?"

"I think we should." Maya nodded firmly. "It might be able to help us win!"

"Maybe. Let's wait until after this meeting to call in Mia then, I suppose. She'll be able to help us more then if we manage to get more information out of this person."

"Sounds like a plan!" Maya grinned.

* * *

At ten to eleven the next morning, Maya and Phoenix converged on the mentioned location. They'd split up for a bit more investigation time, but a quick chat revealed that neither of them had found anything new.

"Nice place." Phoenix said uneasily.

"It looks like some creepy place where backroom deals happen." Maya muttered, looking around. "Nick, I'm not sure I like this…"

"I'm not sure I do either, but we've agreed that we should. Hopefully this'll give us something useful for our case, at least." Phoenix sighed, straightening slightly. "Come on, let's just go in and see if we can find this 'L'." He pushed open the door to the small pub and headed inside, holding the door open for Maya behind him.

The place itself wasn't much, just a small room with a bartender. It looked more like they were just getting set up, maybe for the lunch run or something, but the man at the bar looked up as they came in.

"Lookin' for someone?" He grunted, with a raised eyebrow.

"We are." Phoenix nodded slowly. The man gave them a once over, nodded himself, and gestured towards the stairs.

"She's up there, second room on the left." He told them.

"Thank you." Walking up the stairs, they entered the second door and looked around. The room itself was pretty plain, just black-grey walls, with a table in the middle and three seats. It actually looked rather like the set of a black-and-white detective movie from the seventies, and the person sitting at the table wouldn't look too out of place in one either.

A black formal suit, a white shirt and a blue tie, with a black bowler hat placed on their head, tilted slightly downward. They were looking down at the table, a glass of beer in one hand held up to their mouth, the only bit of colour on them that _didn't_ match the aesthetic of a seventies detective movie was the familiar blonde hair spilling out from underneath the hat, hiding their face.

Even so, Phoenix thought he recognised them, something that was totally confirmed as they placed the glass back on the table and pushed back their hair, looking up to meet their rather surprised eyes with bright, sparkling green ones, and a mildly cocky smirk.

"Miss Wilbourn." Phoenix uttered.

"Correct." The woman's grin grew a little more. "Lisa Wilbourn, at your service. You are Mr Wright, and _you_," her eyes darted across and a little past Maya, "Are Miss Fey. Now that we're all acquainted with each other, would you like a beer?" She nodded to the two other glasses on the table. "It's rather good here, I must admit, despite the area it's in. And a proper conversation should really be accompanied by some good beer." Wilbourn tilted her hat back somewhat, stopping it from covering her face as much, and just watched them.

Phoenix and Maya swapped glances, then slowly took seats opposite the prosecutor.

_What on earth is Miss Wilbourn doing here?_ Phoenix mused. _Why would the prosecutor of this case want to meet with us like this?_ The woman's eyes seemed to glitter a little more, a startling difference to the hard jade that had been present during the court session the day before. _Edgeworth said she was terrifying for some reason… I guess the only way to find out what she wants is to talk to her. I just hope this doesn't end up causing trouble for us._

"I take it," she started, still watching them attentively, "That you want to know why I asked you here, in all this secrecy. Why a note under your door, why no details, why only sign it as 'L'. All fair questions, I have to admit."

"Yeah, why _did_ you do that?" Maya asked, sounding suspicious. "It's so… creepy. Why not just approach us normally or something?"

"And be accused of trying to bias the case?" She raised an eyebrow slightly, lifting the glass again. "That would be in poor taste, Miss Fey. While it would have been the less suspicious way to get you involved, approaching you in the lobby of the court would have garnered suspicion from anyone who managed to spot us, and then where would we be? It wouldn't help your client, that's for sure. Even if I got removed as prosecution for whatever reason, this case is air tight enough to anyone who isn't looking that you'd still lose."

"And you claim that we're in a better position with you as our prosecution?" Phoenix asked, just as suspicious as Maya was.

"You are." Wilbourn paused, taking a sip of her beer, and nodded. "See, I'm an inexperienced prosecutor. Me losing the first murder case I've been in won't be too surprising. It might catch me some flak from the others, but no-one who really matters will be too upset- especially since I'm losing to _you_ of all people."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means, Miss Fey, that you and Mr Wright here have become rather well known for taking on impossible cases and winning. No matter how air tight, how obvious the final outcome, how hopeless it seems, you somehow pull out a win. Someone as inexperienced as I in dealing with prosecution wouldn't catch too much flak for losing to you, even if it was apparently an open-and-shut case." Wilbourn smirked slightly wider. "Hence why I've been playing up my nervousness and inexperience in the courtroom itself. If it looks like part of why I lost was not being used to the situation, and part of it is the fact that I was up against you, it doesn't look quite as bad." She sipped her drink again. "Of course, none of that matters at all if the defence can't defend. No matter how badly I hold myself, or how bad the witnesses I call are, if you don't have evidence to show that it wasn't Miss White who committed this crime, then I'll still win this case."

"We understand that," Phoenix said slowly, "But I admit I don't quite understand why you're telling us this."

"Because, Mr Wright, I don't want that." She explained, just as slowly. "I do not want to win this case. _I_ am aware that Miss White is innocent. _You_ are aware that Miss white is innocent. The issue is that _you_ do not have the evidence to prove this. No matter how bad my witness is, and I made sure that my witness was bad, all the cross-examination in the world will not give you a successful case and the ability to find the true criminal- and, quite honestly, I do not think you can prove Miss White innocent without it."

"But…" Maya asked, confused. "Why wouldn't you want to win this case? I thought you were the prosecution?"

"Who's to say I'm not?" Wilbourn smirked at them momentarily, then sighed, her eyes dimming. "I got into this business to find those guilty of crimes and ensure they got punished for it. By winning this case and sentencing an innocent woman for a crime she did not commit, I am not doing my job." She grinned, a spark appearing in her eyes again. "And helping you out is the best way to ensure that I don't win."

"And how are you going to do that?"

Wilbourn smirked again, then reached down to her side. Phoenix tensed slightly, and she snorted. "With this, Mr Wright." She pulled a small folder of papers from her bag and placed them on the table, moving her beer to one side so it could sit between them. Phoenix and Maya moved their untouched beers away and stared at it, before he looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "In here, you will find some names and information for you to pursue. These people will be able to help you build a case that Miss White was not the criminal in this matter. Using this, and your own skills, I am fairly certain that you will be able to work out how to win this case in the two days we have left."

Phoenix looked at the folder again as Wilbourn sipped her beer.

"How do we know this is all real, and not just faked to make us look stupid and lose?"

The prosecutor sighed again, meeting his eyes. Once again the glitter in them had vanished, leaving jade-green eyes that looked far more tired than they had any right to be. "You can't know that, Mr Wright. As with anything you're given by the enemy, it's impossible until you look into it. But I'm willing to promise that none of what I've given you here today is faked. I'm not von Karma, or any of those other prosecutors you've come across that will do anything for a guilty verdict, just for the sake of their records. I want to win cases to send the guilty to prison, and lose cases to keep the innocent walking free. I know that, sometimes, that may not be possible without a lot more work to keep it from looking conceived. But in the end, it's what I plan to do." She shrugged. "Anyway, I've given you what I asked you here for." Suddenly standing, she drained the rest of her beer and shouldered her bag. "Do what you want with the information, Mr Wright. I'd recommend staying here until you've read over it all. The room's yours until you're done. Enjoy your beer, and I'll see you in court later."

The woman gave a cheery wave and walked out before Phoenix was able to respond. He and Maya traded glances.

"That was weird." She complained.

"It was, wasn't it?" Phoenix muttered. "Read this all here, then head out to check over things?"

"Sounds… good." Maya nodded, glancing at the file. Phoenix sighed again, flipped it open, and started to read.

* * *

"So, what do you think, Mia?" Phoenix asked, raising an eyebrow. Maya's currently possessed body finished her read through of the files they'd been given by Wilbourn about half an hour before.

"There's a few things here you should definitely follow up on." The deceased attorney mused, looking up at him. "They'd probably help you win your case."

"Wait, my?" He blinked. "But… won't you be helping?"

"I… don't think that's a good idea." Mia said slowly. "I don't know for _sure_, but… I think this Lisa Wilbourn can see me."

"_What_?"

"Think back to the meeting, Nick." She scolded. "Miss Wilbourn didn't just look at Maya when she greeted 'Miss Fey', she looked _past_ her. I've been trying to hang around more, after some of the more recent incidents, and she was looking straight at me when she spoke. Plus, look at how she was talking. At no point, at all, did she say '_you _two_'_. Always '_you'_, never '_you two'_ or '_you both'_. The only time she didn't do that she was talking to '_Mr Wright and Miss Fey'_, and that can still be taken as talking to the three of us."

Phoenix paused, thinking, and realised with a slight start that she was right.

"I'm pretty sure Miss Wilbourn can tell when I'm around, so it wouldn't be a good idea to come with you to the case tomorrow. At least, not talking through Maya while I'm there. Who knows what she might do with that sort of information. She might even manage to get things kicked out of court because of it."

"I see." Wincing at the thought, he sighed. "Shame, I could really use your help."

"Don't doubt your abilities, Phoenix." Mia told him. "You're a lot better than you seem to realise. Even Miss Wilbourn thought so."

"You were still around for a lot of it…"

"I wasn't around for the Edgeworth case, and you still won that." She pointed out. "Honestly, Nick, you need some confidence. Anyway, I'll still be in the courtroom, watching out for you. I just… won't be able to comment while you're in there, unless something drastic happens."

"Thanks, Mia." She patted him on the shoulder.

"Now, you and Maya go out looking for stuff to use, and go win this case." The ghost faded again, making Maya shake her head, a little disorientated. Phoenix quickly explained what he and Mia had spoken about, making her frown.

"That's kinda worrying." She said quietly. "My main thing is bringing in Mia to help you out… if I can't do that…"

"Like Mia said, we won the Edgeworth case on our own." Phoenix straightened, determined. "We can do it again. If this goes onto the third day, we can talk to Mia again and ask for her advice, but let's aim to finish this today."

"There's only a few hours until court, though." Maya pointed out, stiffening all the same. "Can we really get enough evidence before then?"

"We can have a good go." Standing from his chair, he put the file away and started out of the door, planning the best way to start hunting the people in that file down.

* * *

"Where's the hat?" Maya asked lowly, looking across at Wilbourn in the other stand. "She had that neat hat on earlier, why wouldn't she be wearing it now? It feels like a part of her style."

"You're not supposed to wear hats in court." Phoenix explained absently, flicking through some papers in a mirror of Wilbourn's actions the day before.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Weird rule, if you ask me, but it's a thing." He looked up and around the courtroom, noticing Wilbourn watching them, almost as if she'd heard them talking about her. A hint of sparkle rose into her eyes, and they flickered over both of them before landing in between the two. Phoenix glanced sideways, seeing nothing, then looked back to Wilbourn in confusion. A slight smirk quirked her lips for a moment, and she inclined one shoulder in a half shrug. _I guess Mia was right, Miss Wilbourn can see her standing around nearby. Nice to know that she's here, though._

Looking down at the papers he had again, he rechecked his information, wanting to make sure he had everything in order before they started. Even if Wilbourn was apparently doing everything she could to throw this case, he didn't want to rely on that to win- especially as it wasn't any guarantee _too_ win.

"Order, order!" The Judge called, making the courtroom fall into silence. "Thank you. The court is now in session for the trial of Miss Michelle White."

Phoenix inhaled deeply, feeling nervous once again.

"The defence is ready, Your Honour." _I hope._

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honour."

* * *

"This court finds the defendant, Miss Michelle White… not guilty."

Phoenix gave an explosive sigh and Maya gave a quiet cheer at the declaration. Shooting her a smile, he gave a glance over to the prosecutors stand, seeing Wilbourn's face. She looked downtrodden and upset, but, apparently sensing his eyes, looked up at him. The hard jade eyes that had been against him all case glimmered brightly, and for a split second flickered in what might have been a wink.

He gave a reassuring smile, one that he was pretty sure anyone who saw it would assume was to comfort the just-defeated woman, and got a faint one in return, before Maya tugged on his sleeve.

"Nick, _look_!" She hissed, drawing his attention. "Edgeworth's up there!"

"What?" He blinked, then followed her eyes up into the viewing gallery. Sure enough, there was Edgeworth in his usual red suit, watching the three of them curiously. He gave them a slight smile when he noticed them, one that looked reasonably approving, then went back to studying Wilbourn in the other stand.

She didn't react at all to his gaze, which made Phoenix wonder if she'd known he was there all along.

The courtroom bustle changed slightly as people began flooding out to leave, and Phoenix hurriedly pack up his things and follow Wilbourn, Maya trailing behind, in the hope of talking to her.

"Miss Wilbourn!" He called, once he was close enough. The blonde looked up and over, pausing when she saw who had called, then stepped to one side to allow people to move around her towards the elevators. "I wanted to thank you." He said lowly, once he'd reached her side. "For giving me everything earlier. It was really helpful."

"No need to thank me, Mr Wright." She responded, just as quietly. "I only did what I had to to make sure the actual criminal went to jail."

"Who would've thought it'd be a jealous twin who did the murder?" Maya mused. "Without you, I don't think we would have."

"With how everything went, I don't think _anyone_ would have." Wilbourn said ruefully. Her eyes darted to one side, taking something in, and she continued slightly louder, "Thank you, Mr Wright, but I'm aware I can't win everything. I'm just glad you were able to put the _actual_ criminal away." She glanced away with a guilty look, looking strangely similar to Edgeworth in that moment. "Even if that's supposed to be my job…"

"You will come to find quite quickly, Miss Wilbourn, that Wright is rather good at managing to do other people's jobs for them." Phoenix jumped slightly at Edgeworth's sudden intrusion into the conversation, and Maya yelped.

"Edgeworth!" She startled. "What're you doing here?"

"When you mentioned Miss Wilbourn here would be taking this case, I decided to see how it went." He said, giving her a little smile. "I was here yesterday too, though you didn't notice." He turned back to Wilbourn. "Still, that was a good showing. I've seen prosecutors with far more experience than you who would be unnerved by a situation like that one."

"Thank you, Mr Edgeworth, but being able to read a room has its advantages."

"Read… a room?" Maya asked.

"What do you mean by that, Miss Wilbourn?"

Wilbourn half winced, smiling slightly, and looked around. "Tell you what, let's all go and grab a beer, I know a nice place, and I'll tell you there."

Phoenix and Maya swapped an amused glance, and nodded at once; it _had_ been some fairly nice beer, once they'd stopped reading for long enough to actually drink it, while Edgeworth sent a confused look around all three of them.

"Very well." With the courtroom now fairly empty, the four joined the finally trickle of people still waiting to leave, ending up on their own in the last elevator down because of their conversation. "Though I am not sure why you couldn't just say outright."

"It's a fairly long story, and a proper long story should be shared over beer." Wilbourn shrugged. "Plus not one I'm really comfortable sharing out in public- the place has private rooms, so it's fine."

Now fairly certain he was right on where they were going, Phoenix relaxed a little and swapped another look with Maya, curious as to what sort of story Wilbourn was planning to share with them.

The quiet ping of the elevator doors opening started them on collecting the bags that were resting on the floor, only to have to start clinging to walls at everything shook.

_Earthquake._ Phoenix realised, going wide eyed. _And we're stuck in an elevator, too. That's not good._ A quick look towards Edgeworth while the shaking continued showed that he was frozen in place, holding on to the wall, and looking horribly close to hyperventilating. _That's really not good._ Edgeworth had changed over the years, sure, but not enough that he'd be happy for someone he barely knew like Wilbourn to know about his issue with earthquakes.

"Damn tremors." Wilbourn scowled, as things began to die down. "What the hell are people doing, living in places with bad earthquakes. Why don't they all just go somewhere else? Like England, I'm pretty sure England doesn't do earthquakes, right? Why don't we just go to England?"

Phoenix raised an eyebrow at her, and he heard Maya inhale to scold the woman about this not being the time, when he noticed that she was also clamped onto Edgeworth's hand, rubbing her thumb in circles on the back of it while she talked. His friend was still breathing too frantically, but he seemed at least a little calmer and more focused as she spoke.

_She's distracting him._ He realised. _Stopping him from focusing on the earthquake and the whole elevator thing. Clever._ "Probably because there's things here that we want to keep, Miss Wilbourn." Phoenix put in. "I'm pretty sure Edgeworth wouldn't appreciate having to relearn the law to keep being a prosecutor, for example."

"I _guess_ that's fair." She hummed. "Still seems really dumb, though. Like, sure, on one hand, learning a bunch of new stuff, but on the other, earthquakes."

"Didn't _you_ move here from somewhere else, though?" Maya asked- either catching on to what they were doing or just genuinely curious enough that she had to blurt it out- and Wilbourn laughed.

"Yeah, I did do that. Guess I can't talk, can I, really. Still think everyone should move to England."

"England's pretty small, though. I don't think that'd work well."

"There's other places that don't have earthquakes, though." Wilbourn pointed out to the girl. "Just mass exodus to places where the ground _doesn't_ randomly decide to party every few months." Maya snickered, and Phoenix was pretty sure he saw Edgeworth crack a tiny smile as well, his eyes refocusing slightly on everything.

"I suppose most people would probably agree with you, Miss Wilbourn, but it would still be pretty difficult for everyone in earthquake zones to move somewhere else."

"Artificial floating islands?" She suggested, with another shrug. "We could figure something out, I'm sure." The final bits of the quake finally faded away, and Wilbourn gave a final squeeze on Edgeworth's hand. "You ok?" She asked lowly, watching him. He blinked, breathing still faster than normal but certainly better than Phoenix had expected, and looked away slightly. She smiled and nodded, then let him go.

Maya almost immediately jumped in and patted the man on the shoulder, something which made Phoenix raise an eyebrow and Edgeworth jump slightly, and Wilbourn stifled something which was probably a laugh before turning away.

"Oh, _joy_," she hissed, "The door's stuck." Phoenix tore his gaze away from his obviously still nervous friend- who was giving Maya an odd look- to see what she meant.

The elevator door was jammed part way through opening, a small crack showing the empty lobby beyond being as far as it had gotten. Maya stepped away from Edgeworth with another little smile at him, experimentally poking the button to open the door and sighing when it didn't work. "Guess it's busted."

"Looks like it." Wilbourn sighed as well. "Man, it's been a while since I last had to do something like this…" Phoenix blinked, and suddenly the woman had a crowbar in her hand, levering it in between the two doors and pushing.

"Where did she get that from?" Maya whispered, sounding as befuddled as Phoenix felt. "There's nowhere she could've gotten it from in here, where…?"

"Oh, didn't you know?" Wilbourn said conversationally, apparently not struggling at all as she slowly pushed the doors apart. "When you get to a certain point in your career as an attorney, you get the power of a subspace pocket for you to put things behind your back."

"Really?"

"Yup." A moment's pause, while the door slipped open a little further. "After all, how else are we supposed to do the asspulls to prove our point if we can't pull the evidence out of our asses? I'd've thought Mr Wright would've filled you in on that one, given how often he does it."

They silently stared at her for a moment, disbelieving and amazed.

Someone snorted.

Phoenix moved his disbelieving stare to Edgeworth.

He looked… slightly embarrassed. Phoenix was pretty sure there was a faint blush on his cheeks.

"_There_ we go." She finished, drawing attention back. "Pretty sure we can all get through that." The door was most of the way open, plenty wide enough for them to get through going sideways, which Wilbourn promptly did. "Come on, folks. Onwards to that pub, beer is on me."

They all traded slightly amused glances, tempered by the mild confusion that came from the fact that her crowbar had again vanished in the intervening moments where they weren't looking, and slipped through as well.

Phoenix managed to grab Wilbourn while they were waiting for a taxi, and pulled her to one side while Maya distracted Edgeworth. "Thank you for doing what you did back there."

Wilbourn shrugged. "I had a friend back before that struggled really badly with storms. Normally her boyfriend handled it, but if we got caught out in one I'd do something similar until we were able to grab the bus or a taxi home. Or her boyfriend came to pick us up if he was available. Keeping someone distracted from the source of this issue might not be the best way of doing it, but it usually works alright. I'm just glad it did there."

"Still, thank you."

"Don't mention it, and thanks for catching on so quickly and helping out. I think Maya was about to shout at me."

"Pretty sure she was, but I saw it was helping, so…" Phoenix shrugged. Wilbourn grinned at him, then turned to see a car coming down the road.

"Ah, good, our ride to the pub."

* * *

"So," Phoenix prompted, nearly half an hour later and over another glass of rather good beer. "You have a story to tell?"

Wilbourn winced slightly into her own glass, sighing. The bowler hat from before was back in place, making it once again feel like a seventies detective movie, and had caused Edgeworth to give her a surprised look when she'd- again- pulled it out of thin air when no-one looking and balanced it on her head.

"Yeah, I suppose I do." She sighed again, leaning back in her chair a little. "I'll give you the shorter version, just to save time, please hold your questions until the end." She took another sip of her beer, pulled her hat down a little, hiding her eyes, and spoke up. "So, it starts when I was a kid. I had a pretty unnatural ability for reading people, even then, and my parents started teaching me to read people properly- body language, and all that. My father especially, he wanted to use me to make the business he'd set up more profitable by making sure he couldn't be scammed. I was getting pretty good at it, but because I was so focused on learning I missed a lot from the people around me.

"When I was thirteen, my brother killed himself. I'd sort of noticed that something was wrong, just from how distant he was being, but because of that I wasn't able to talk to him enough and hadn't figured out what was wrong until it was too late. My parents blamed me for it, because they'd been teaching me how to read people and I'd missed it, and got… not abusive, as such, but stricter. I spent more and more time trapped at home, learning how to read people without even talking to them, and I stuck to it, feeling guilty that I hadn't learned enough to help my brother.

"After a year or so, I had enough and ran away. Made it to another city, ended up with a group of kids in kinda bad situations, and then ended up sort-of employed by someone who'd figured out what I could do and again wanted to exploit it. This time I got trained as an investigator, since my boss wanted me to use what I could do to weed out troublemakers in his company and figure out who would be good to employ, plus some other stuff. I got sick of that pretty quick, so after getting out of school I made the decision to go into actual detective work. Got bored of that a little while after, since I felt like I wasn't really helping much, and went into law instead. Started out as a defence attorney, but that wasn't a good fit for me. Since I could figure out whether or not the person I was dealing with was actually guilty or not just from talking with them a bit, it made it hard to defend some people when I got put onto cases where the client was guilty as sin.

"It was about that point I made my policy of throwing cases."

"What?" Edgeworth exclaimed, wide-eyed. Wilbourn shot him an amused look.

"Oh, don't be like that, Edgeworth."

"But… throwing your cases?" He spluttered, as Phoenix and Maya traded amused looks.

"Only when my clients were guilty." She assured him. "When my clients were actually innocent, I used every scrap of my abilities to get them out of their situation. Did my best to figure out the real criminal, but it wasn't always easy. Still, because I won some and lost some, I never ended up famous or anything. I was just another mediocre defence lawyer, who'd do her best to get you found innocent but didn't always manage it."

"I hope that tendency of yours is in the past." He muttered, sounding both annoyed and impressed.

Wilbourn paused, for just long enough that Edgeworth figured out what had gone on in the court and narrow his eyes, then continued, "Anyway, it was still difficult throwing my cases as a defence attorney, and after a while it started to get troublesome. I was used to pushing to get what I wanted, but as defence it sometimes became annoying to get evidence to show that my client was innocent- people wanted me to lose so the '_criminals'_ could be put away, whether they were actually criminals or not. So, I decided to move. Made my plans, took courses working in prosecution instead, then moved cities. Ended up here, joined up with you guys, engineered my way into only taking small cases to settle in at first, then went on a research binge to find out about the defence attorney's around here."

She shrugged, took a long drink of her beer, then added, "It's a lot easier working as a prosecutor for exactly the same reason I found being defence difficult; people want to see the criminals punished, so people tend to be more willing to testify or give information to me on it all. From there it's just a matter of pushing in the right place to make the defence nervous, having them trip up on things, and making sure I push at the right time to make myself completely unbeatable to them. Throwing a case would be even easier; just organise for evidence against me to end up in the defence's hands, then fail to counter properly until I lose."

Edgeworth was giving all of them a hard glare, and all three buried smirks in their glasses, a move the prosecutor didn't miss.

"So, yeah, that's my story. I'm basically a super cold reader and good at following chains of an idea to a conclusion, then prodding to see if it's right or wrong. Rather like Mr Wright in that respect, though I don't tend to _actually_ make the enormous leaps of logic he manages, I follow through from something that makes sense first."

"Hey, I follow logic chains." Phoenix claimed, offended.

"Of course you do." Edgeworth agreed, making him blink. "You just make the leaps of logic first, _then_ follow through with the logic behind it."

"Hey!"

Wilbourn chuckled, then Edgeworth seemed to get his act together and looked at her. "So, you essentially use super powers to get the upper hand in court."

"Hey, not like there's laws against it. Pretty sure Mr Wright and Miss Fey would've gotten barred from practising if there was." Both of them stiffened slightly, which she obviously caught and ignored, then said, "At risk of reusing a joke, the amount of times Mr Wright pulls things out of his ass that are correct means it's either a super power, or divine intervention."

Phoenix and Maya shared quiet sighs of relief and eyerolls at the joke, while Edgeworth looked away, lips twitching.

"But honestly," he continued to argue, once he had himself under control, "You're still-"

"It's getting the guilty put away and keeping the innocents safe." Wilbourn reposted. "Honestly Mr Edgeworth, you need to relax." She said over her glace. A wicked smirk came and went, along with the sort of glimmer in her eyes that Phoenix was slowly coming to associate with a joke. She waited a moment, just long enough for Edgeworth to raise an eyebrow and sip at the beer that Phoenix was still surprised he'd accepted, and added, "Get a girlfriend or something."

Phoenix snorted slightly, and he swore that Edgeworth choked on his drink.

"Or a boyfriend, if you want." She added absently, and Phoenix ducked away to hide the massive grin that spread over his face because that was _definitely_ a choke. "I won't judge."

"I do not need your permission to get a date." Edgeworth said stiffly, once he'd cleared his throat and recovered. "Nor do I want either a boyfriend or a girlfriend."

She smirked a little wider, the glitter in her eyes growing brighter, and Phoenix abruptly found himself reminded of her talent, and couldn't help but wonder what she'd picked up in that statement that he'd missed. "Sure thing, Mr Edgeworth." She grinned, sipping at the beer again. "Sure thing."

* * *

**So a lot of the inspiration to write this also came from my discovery that there are no Phoenix Wright/Worm crossovers. Since I considered this a mortal offence, I started this off in the hopes of sparking someone else off.**

**As for Lisa, yes, she could be considered a bit out-of-character for her normal self. Speculate who she is all you want, make up your own ideas; is she a post-Golden Morning Lisa who modified her life story a bit to fit in and decided to try and do some good with her power? Is she actually exactly who she described herself as- super powers basically are a thing here, after all, given spirit mediums who work fine. Maybe she's a bit of both- post-GM Lisa who lost her powers, ended up in this world, and decided to try doing some good with some of the things she'd picked up from having her powers? It's up to you, really.**

**I see pretty much only two ways the Lisa-Edgeworth thing is likely to continue; either the two of them keep sparking off each other as Lisa's teasing attempts to make him lighten up cause him to keep burrowing or something, or they end up dating because she keeps teasing and eventually it gets to the point where Edgeworth figures out something to shut her up, only for things to end up developing. (I... may... also have a silly idea for that which pretty much involves Maya and Lisa taking up the challenge of getting Phoenix and Edgeworth to notice them, which they do, and promptly decide to see how long they'll keep it up for before choosing to confront them about it. Possibly involving a silly 'misunderstanding' which is totally put on and only continues for as long as they can keep themselves from laughing, because Lisa's actively trying _not_ to get a read on them with her powers/talent/whatever.**

**My brain is a funny place at times. I might even write that for the fun of it.)**

**If the chapter seems a little odd, that's probably because the entire latter half was written on a Sunday afternoon by a very tired girl who's in that weird state of mind where everything even vaguely amusing gives her the giggles, and she couldn't quite tell what was actually funny versus what she was just perceiving as amusing. I was still glad to start hitting the end parts, though, where Lisa could kind of drop out of the more 'formal lawyer' mode and start being a bit more snarky. Edgeworth deserves it, he _does _need to lighten up.**

**I've intentionally left the timeline a little vague, mostly because I've only seen the first game (up until case 4 as of the start of writing, and we're part way through the DS exclusive case 5 as of ending this), but take it to be long enough that Edgeworth's had a reasonable attitude shift since the first Ace Attorney game, and maybe feel free to apply the games set after that one at your own convenience for the canon.**

**The asspull and divine intervention things are kind of in-jokes; we of the stream rather constantly joke that the only way Nick is still alive at this point is because some kind of god is helping him out, keeping him from getting killed by the enemies he makes and helping him make the ridiculous leaps of logic that keep winning him cases.**

**On the panic attack thing; yes, that actually does work. Not for everyone, admittedly, but it works for me and a few other people I know.**

**Now, an extra scene. This is something I kind of wanted to weave into the 'main' idea above, but given how it was all laid out and how I've set up Nick and Maya as purposely hiding the whole 'spirit medium' thing as much as they can to avoid trouble, it didn't really fit. So, instead, have it as a bonus scene, probably taking place a few months to years in the future, after they've built up more of a group- and probably after Lisa helping out Nick in a few more cases that she's thrown.**

* * *

"Miss Fey?" Wilbourn suddenly asked, looking at Maya.

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind if I spoke with your sister some? It's rather difficult to do it this way," she gestured to herself and then vaguely at the air beside Maya while Phoenix and Edgeworth watched; Phoenix with curiosity, Edgeworth with confusion, "And I think your sister would appreciate the chance to socialise a little again." Maya blinked, looking at the air next to her, then nodded.

"Sure, if sis doesn't mind showing up." Maya leaned back slightly and closed her eyes, going into the strange state that accompanied Mia's ghost taking over.

"Her… sister?" Edgeworth muttered. Phoenix glanced over, seeing his friend frowning into the bottom of his glass, thinking deeply.

"Mia Fey." He put in for him. His eyes widened and shot to him.

"But… she's dead?"

"Excellent observation, Mr Edgeworth." Mia said dryly, making him jump. Phoenix merely looked over, spotting the several little differences in how she held herself that differentiated Mia from Maya.

With the number of times the girls had swapped places for a trial without telling him, he'd quickly learned the differences between them to avoid trouble… or annoyances.

"Interesting…" He heard Wilbourn murmur, and figured that she was probably fascinated by the change in the girl.

"Miss Fey?"

"Correct." Mia nodded, slightly curtly, but Phoenix could see a glimmer of amusement in her eyes- one that was oddly similar to the one that appeared in Wilbourn's eyes, in fact. "A pleasure to meet you properly, Mr Edgeworth."

The man stared at her, then looked at Phoenix for an explanation. The man looked surprisingly pitiful, to his mild entertainment, and he left his friend to try to figure out what was going on for a few more minutes before taking pity on the man and giving him a hint. "Misty Fey was a spirit medium-"

"And she was Mia and Maya's mother, wasn't she?" He realised, apparently remembering the conversation they'd had back during his trial years ago.

"Also correct, though only Maya took to following that path." Mia chuckled. "I decided my way lay in law, so I went that way. I've been staying around Nick and Maya for years now, though there was a couple of times where I ended up stuck out of reach."

"And you've been helping Wright with his trials?"

"Only in the early days. I got stuck during yours, unfortunately, but since then I've actually started staying out of them myself. I stay nearby so I can give advice through Maya afterwards, but for the majority of it I'm just a spectator."

"Not that you haven't jumped in during an emergency." Phoenix added, making Mia nod.

"True." Lifting Maya's glass, she took a sip of the beer in it and hummed. "Huh. That _is_ rather good beer. I wasn't ever much of a fan of it in life, but this is pretty good."

"Just don't have too much of it." Wilbourn advised, the _'joke sparkle'_, as Phoenix had come to think of it as, shimmering in her eyes. "After all, drunk driving is illegal, and I'd hate to think how complicated it would get dealing with a ghost."

They all paused, processing that, then Mia laughed- a pretty, tinkling sound Phoenix didn't hear enough of anymore.

"Oh, I _do_ like you." She grinned. "I think I'd like to speak more with you."

"So do I." Wilbourn agreed, with a matching grin- one that wasn't smug or sarcastic, but a rare, genuinely amused one. "As much fun as it might be interacting with you during trials or when we're talking, it _is_ rather hard to read a person when you're trained in looking for muscle movements or whatever and the person you're interacting with doesn't have any."

Phoenix settled back with his drink to listen to the two talk, while Edgeworth next to him tried to figure out how his reality had shifted and what that meant.

They needed to bring Mia into these conversations properly more often, he decided. Even though it excluded Maya somewhat, it wasn't right that Mia hung about them all the time trying to help and had to watch them enjoying the life she'd had taken from her without being able to join in.

Plus, he kind of missed that laugh of hers. It'd been rare enough when she was alive, always under the pressure of a case of some sort, and since she'd died he only really spoke to her when he needed help. It was nice to see her happy about so much more now.


	5. The FeyNix

**Spoilers for Ace Attorney: Justice For All.**

* * *

_(It took a little while for things to settle after Maya was rescued and the case closed. Everyone went their separate ways after the meal, and we managed to get Pearls to let go of Maya long enough to catch the train back to the village._

_I have no idea how, but I think I'll let Maya keep it as her own secret._

_The two of us headed back to the office after that, wanting to just relax a bit before splitting up ourselves. We hadn't really had a quiet moment since she'd gotten back, with the police and the group of people that'd come along to the meal, and to be honest I just wanted a few minutes to quietly breathe._

_I think Maya did too.)_

* * *

"It's good to be back." Maya muttered, planting herself on the couch with a wide smile. She kicked her feet up onto the table, relaxing into the chair.

Phoenix laughed, walking around to the other side and sitting down next to her. "It's been weird not having you around." He admitted, relaxing a little as well.

"You didn't have me around for a while last year." She reminded, with a little smirk.

Yeah, and that went well. He recalled, with a half sigh. "Well, yes, but you weren't in danger then."

Maya winced. "I guess not." Leaning back a little more, she put her hand on her cheek, apparently thinking.

Phoenix let her, only interrupting her train of thought for a moment to gesture at the TV in the corner with the remote. She nodded, so Phoenix turned it on a low volume, letting the first thing that came on- some poor quality romance film that was halfway over, by the looks of things- play as background noise while both of them just relaxed, the stress of the last few days fading away.

Phoenix couldn't help but keep glancing at Maya throughout, even when she stopped seeming to think so hard and started watching the film on the TV instead. He'd missed her over the last two days, and now that he had her back again he couldn't help but keep checking on her, some irrational part of his brain insisting that she was going to vanish if he didn't look over and keep an eye on her.

He knew she _wouldn't_, of course, but that didn't stop his brain from insisting and making him check. It did also seem to make Maya feel a little better, from the way she kept slipping him glances as well. Still, the pair stayed happily quiet throughout the remaining half hour of the film, Phoenix not really paying any attention to it aside from as a vague bit of a distraction. It was... nice, he thought, to just relax a bit with his friend and not think. Not about the kidnapping, or the case he'd just been through, or the cases he was likely going to get in the future, or the fact that Edgeworth was suddenly back after a year of being pretty much invisible, or any of the other things that had kept buzzing around his head the last few days while he worried about everything.

The film rolling to an end actually caught him by surprise, having not been paying attention to it very much at all, and he blinked himself back into focus. With a little bit of surprise, he suddenly realised that Maya was leaning on his shoulder, looking half asleep.

Very gently, he lifted his other arm to poke her, making her startle.

"Huh-wha?"

"Are you alright?" He asked. "You were falling asleep there. Want me to take you back to your place?"

"Huh- oh, no." Maya replied, yawning a little. "No, no, I'm fine. It's just a bus ride away, I'll be fine."

Phoenix looked at the way she carefully suppressed another yawn, blinking rapidly, reaching up to rub her eyes, and was unconvinced.

"No, really, I'll be fine!" She repeated. "It's not far away, I've got everything I need to get in and stuff, I'll be fine." Maya yawned a little again, then added, in a slightly teasing tone of voice, "I'm not about to get kidnapped on my way home."

Phoenix winced and stiffened, getting the odd urge to wrap his arm around Maya and pull her into his side. "Don't joke about that, please."

"Yeah. It... it wasn't very funny." She looked down and away, seeming embarrassed. "But I promise I'll be fine. I've got your number, I can text you when I get back home if you're still worried."

Phoenix nodded. "Sure, that works. Just as long as you're careful. It's been a long few days."

"It really has been, hasn't it?" Maya mused, finally removing her head from his shoulder and sitting up. "Though it was pretty calm from my point of view. Terrifying, I guess, but there wasn't much going on. I just spent a lot of time in a dark room being a bit worried about things."

This time Phoenix did wrap his arm around her, pulling Maya into his side.

"I'm _so_ glad you got out of there safe." Phoenix whispered, his throat suddenly locking up. It made it rather difficult to talk, which was annoying. "I... it wasn't good, not having you around."

_I was scared,_ he tried to add, but found that he couldn't force the words past that block in his throat, the tightening in his chest.

Maya reached around him, pressing close in a hug, and nodded. "I really missed you too, Nick." She whispered back. "It was scary, and I was really worried about how you and Pearly would be doing... but I knew you'd get me out of there, Nick. I mean, you always win, so I knew you'd win this one and get me let go."

"I didn't exactly _win_, did I?"

"You did." Maya insisted. "You got the right verdict for your client, and made sure I was safe. That's a win, even if you technically lost because you got a guilty verdict." She shrugged. "I count it as a win, anyway. I think Pearly and Mia would too."

"Maybe." Phoenix murmured, blushing a little. He was well aware that Pearls considered the entire situation a win for them, though admittedly he wasn't quite as sure about Mia. "Thanks for trusting me so much."

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked, sounding genuinely confused. "Of course you were bound to win. It's _you_, Nick, why _wouldn't_ you win?"

He blushed a little more and looked away.

"Thanks, Maya." He managed, after a moment of feeling a little choked up. "For believing in me like that."

"You're welcome." They spent a few minutes leaning against each other on the couch, before Maya slowly disentangled herself from Phoenix and looked away. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Nick."

"Sure thing, Maya." Phoenix nodded, glad she was looking away so that he didn't need to hide his blush. "Just make sure you get some rest, though. You've had a long last few days, you deserve it."

"You've had a pretty busy last few days as well." Maya pointed out quietly. "Why don't you take a break as well?"

Phoenix shrugged. "Work's never done, especially for a lawyer." He told her. "I can't really afford to take much of a break."

"That's dumb." Maya grumbled. "Better idea, neither of us actually do anything tomorrow, we just meet up and go for coffee instead."

"That-" He started, before pausing. "Sounds like a pretty good idea, actually. I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

"Sure!"

Phoenix smiled a little at Maya's enthusiasm, then got up and walked her to the door. "Stay safe, Maya, and message me when you get home?"

"I will." Maya promised, standing in the doorway. She hesitated a moment outside on the street, then leaned forward for another hug. "Thanks for saving me, Nick. I thought that was really brave."

Phoenix frowned, going to respond, then froze as Maya stretched up and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

By the time he'd gotten his brain working again, Maya had already left, jogging down the street and turning the corner, where the bus stop was... and where there was likely a bus, if he had the time right. Phoenix continued to stare down the road, then slowly reached his hand up to his cheek.

"Huh." He managed, after a moment. "That..."

Very slowly, he went back inside the office, feeling slightly confused about the situation.

And feeling oddly like Mia was laughing at him.

Abruptly, a thought struck him, making him pause again.

"Oh god _damn_ it, that was a date request, wasn't it?!"

* * *

_(Maya's sudden actions might've surprised me, but we ended up talking about it over coffee the next day. Maya admitted that she'd been holding back that crush for quite a while- which was apparently partly why Pearls thought we were together in the first place- and the kidnapping had scared her enough that she'd decided to damn the consequences and just go for it._

_Rather like how I handled a number of my cases._

_And me? Well, I didn't have a problem with it, and I'd come to quite like the girl. I was happy to see where it went._

_I was still planning on making Maya tell Pearls, though. At least once we figured out how to break it too her without her getting any worse with her comments.)_

* * *

**So, yeah. Somehow I've ended up the designated shipper in Twitch chat, which I'm… not totally sure how it happened, but introducing the SS FeyNix!**

**Because this chat is very involved in this pairing and honestly I can't blame them for it.**

**This is probably just a one-off, partly because I've not played enough of _Trials and Tribulations_ yet to work anything into it, and partly because I'm actually quite bad at romance. Think this is the first time I've tried to seriously write anything in there at all, actually. Then again, if something comes to mind, I'll probably end up writing it.**

**Hopefully it all came across ok, but emotions are hard.**

**Also Phoenix is very dense and I love it.**


End file.
